Art in Renaissance Italy: 1350-1500

by Evelyn Welch

The Italian Renaissance was a pivotal period in the history of Western culture during which artists such as Masaccio, Donatello, Fra Angelico, and Leonardo created some of the world's most influential and exciting works in a variety of artistic fields. Here, Evelyn Welch presents a fresh picture of the Italian Renaissance by challenging traditional scholarship and placing emphasis on recreating the experience of contemporary Italians: the patrons who commissioned the works, the members of the public who viewed them, and the artists who produced them. Art in Renaissance Italy 1350-1500 dramatically revises the traditional story of the Renaissance and takes into account new issues that have greatly enriched our understanding of the period. From paintings and coins to sculptures and tapestries, Welch examines the issues of materials, workshop practices, and artist-patron relationships, and explores the ways in which visual imagery related to contemporary sexual, social, and political behavior.

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Nonfiction, Renaissance, Italy, Historical

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 1997

About the author

Evelyn Welch (b. 1959) was Chair of the Association of Art Historians from 2007-2011. A scholar of early modern European visual and material culture, she served as a member of the Executive Committee from 2000-2006 before becoming Chair of the Association in 2007.

She gained her PhD in Combined Historical Studies from The Warburg Institute, University of London in 1987, and BA in Renaissance History and Literature at Harvard University in 1981. Currently Professor of Renaissance Studies Vice-Principal for Research and International Affairs at Queen Mary, University of London, Evelyn Welch was previously Pro-Vice Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at the University of Sussex. She is also the director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s programme, Beyond Text: Performances, Sounds, Images, Objects.

Reviews

[Kalliope · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second reading has consolidated the impression I had during my first encounter. This is an excellent complementary reading to another account of Art in Renaissance Italy of a more traditional sort.

Evelyn Welch is treading on the path first opened by Michael Baxandall when in 1972 he published Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style. There, Baxandall gave a sharp twist to the traditional art historical approach, --ironically invented during the Italian Renaissance by Vasari. Baxandall’s effort was to use documentary evidence (such as sermons and other writings) to help us in conjuring up “the period eye” through which we could contemplate the works. Welch acknowledges from early on that this is the path of investigation she has chosen but states that we need to go further and “to multiply our vision, sensitizing our understanding” in trying to recreate the historical context.




And so, instead of a lineal chronology, we move in a thematic wheel: from the material, to the spiritual, to political and religious power and back to the more down to earth, or domestic. We are reminded of the importance of the materials used, of how these were the details stipulated in contracts and over which judicial cases would arise. We examine the way artisans organized themselves and how they stood vis-a-vis those who paid them. We move away from museums back into sacred and devotional settings. We observe the men (and a few women) who called the shots, and review the ample catalogue of different political units that composed what we now call Italy. We then take a rest at the end visiting domestic environments.



And all this thematic unveiling is presented with a continuous stream of examples of art works that illustrate the narrative. For this is a narrative, an expository one. There is little argument or thesis, which sometimes hampers the reader’s memory, for both the facts and the art works.




In Welch’s aim at multiplying our vision, one certainly welcomes the very wide array of artists and works she evokes. She clearly moves beyond Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo and Michaelangelo, and it becomes a sheer delight to meet the art by Giusto de Menabuoi, Cosmè Tura, Vincenzo Foppa, Andrea di Bonaiuti, Quirizio da Murano, Giovanni da Modena, Francesco Rosselli, Pietro Lombardo, Giovanni di Paolo, Agnolo Gaddi, Neroccio di Barolomeo de’Landi, Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de Roberti, Taddeo Crivelli, etc, etc, etc…




But I am surprised that this book forms part of the Oxford History of Art series. For if one were to read only this book about the Italian Renaissance, one would feel as reading only the stage directions without watching the play.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author explained techniques and how the Rennisance workshops were managed by their patrons.

The most powerful families during the Italian Renaissance included the Medici (Florence), Sforza (Milan), Este (Ferrara), Borgia (Rome), and Gonzaga (Mantua). These families played significant roles in politics, culture, and the arts, shaping the Italian Renaissance.

The book has a generous selection of colored plates,
drawings and photos, but the font chosen makes it a difficult weary read.

At 311 pages before notes, a larger font size with an increase in pages would have been a more enjoyable read.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to 15th century art from throughout Italy, touching not only on the centers like Florence, Rome, and Venice but also Naples and Sicily as well as Genoa, Bologna, and Milan. Welch's attention to context, including the general state of Italian politics at the time and the typical expectations for works of art as well as giving more specific examples for individual examples, is greatly appreciated. While she spends little time on visual analysis, she puts Baxandall's "period eye" into practice. My only complaint is the photos are not excellent and tend to be far from the paragraph where they are actually discussed, ie. even multiple pages away.

[Ha-Mi Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-researched book. Welch has an interesting take on the art and architecture during a time deemed momentous. She gives voice to ordinary artisans, and, instead of merely praising again and again the familiar names of Filippo Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, and the like, she focuses on the social and political aspects which brought about the notion of arts patronage. As a firm believer in social contexts as origins of events, I found this approach intriguing as I could see art as a form of progress, based on which we can trace back and find explanations for turning points (e.g. the advent of the concept of artist/individualism/creativity), as opposed to fragments emerging from nowhere.

However, I really, really wished Welch carried out more analyses of the artworks and how all the backgrounds she successfully provides are depicted through the works. It seems to me that most of the images serve to illustrate a single detail rather than unify larger/main ideas in a chapter. I was left yearning for more from her.

[AC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to have to put this one away. It may be me, but I find this book very tough going. The writing is turgid and dull, and the author doesn't seem to understand how to carry through a thread of inquiry without skipping essential steps. In other words, she doesn't understand what the elementary reader (who is the target of this book) needs to know in order to follow the discussion. As such, non-sequiturs abound. Again, it may just be that I don't have the patience to plow through this. But a book on 15th cen. art shouldn't demand such patience.

[Tess Liebregts · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a very deceiving title. For a book supposedly about "art" it's not really about art at all. This book mainly focusses on all kinds of things that are indirectly connected to artistic life. But more than that it is about life in general in the renaissance period. About the political situations and religious beliefs. Which were interesting enough, but not really what I was expecting.

No great, famous artists from this time are really set out. Rarely any comments about style or the development of style. Nor any discussions about the ideas, philosophies and subjects in the artworld were really mentioned. Things like the impact of the studia humanitatis or the impact of Marsilio Ficino neoplatonic ideas are not mentioned. The discours between disegno and colore, nope.

It's also no nice read. The writing style is not entertaining and the examples used to prove points are usually way too extensive in the context of the explanations, which made it all feel like a drag.

In a not so distant future I am supposed to take an exam on this book. Pray, let me be spared from a resit. I really do not want to study this book in its entirety again.

[Kimberly Schlarman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revisiting an old college text before I go overdose on art at the Uffizi. :)

I always enjoyed the Oxford History of Art series and found them engaging and easy to read. Instead of discussing artworks chronologically or presenting a “great artists” view of art history, the Oxford series is arranged thematically putting art and artists into proper historical context.

This book examines who commissioned the art and why, and who made it and how. My favorite sections include discussions of why the artwork was commissioned, how it was used, and the purpose it served in society. This means that you get to read a lot about Italian religious and political history but this provides the right context for appreciating the power and place of art in the Renaissance.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has the dubious honour of being the one with the picture that made me think the Virgin Mary was hot.

A more academic review: written in textbook style and not a particularly advanced one at that, but important for its contribution to the field of Renaissance art history in the same vein as Baxandall, emphasizing that art was created and enjoyed in different ways and under wildly different circumstances in the past than today.

[Evgenii · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a good book although it would really benefit from much much larger pagecount, right now the brevety hurts it at least for not so educated me. Also the time period picked is a bit weird. Other than that interesting perspective, albite not the one I was looking for.

It tells a lot about where when and especially why art pieces (all types, painitings and painters take a backsit here) but it would be great to also get info on who and how what was the subject...
But as I said, for what it tried to accomplish - it did it quite well.

[Call_me_Florence · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book, better than any German introduction to renaissance art that I know. I especially appreciate that the work of art is also explained as a work of use. I highly recommend this book to any art history student, you will see the works of Donatello, Mantegna and others with different eyes!

[Sanjay Prabhakar · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Because this book focuses primarily on the social and historical context in which art was made and used, surveys which take a more traditional biography-based approach provide a necessary complement."

Quite true.

[Ania Gaska · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish this book, but whenever I got to it I enjoyed it. The perspective of art being close to craft was interesting to learn, and there are details about the time period that were engaging

[Erica Tomlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really useful for doing a general sweep of Medieval Art History in Italy. Allows you to look at all points in one book, but there's nothing ground breaking or different within.

[Michael Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. I liked the way it looked at the social whole of the period.

[SteveL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought before a trip to Florence and Sienna. A great introduction to the incredible art of Renaissance Italy.

[Megangoldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way you make me laugh makes my heart race. Tell me more, with your hand a little closer to mine.

[Caracalla · Rating 4 out of 5]

An account that focusses on the practical side of things, how art was made and commissioned and why it was bought and how it was viewed. It sadly misses out the stuff done by da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo in the cinquecento that most people associate with the Renaissance like the Sistine Chapel and the frescoes in the pope's apartments. Humanism is not particularly prominent in the account (as it would only become big in painting and culture more generally in the cinquecento) and sometimes the history accounted for, feels pretty dang medieval. I found the details of this history highly interesting anyway, how religious practices were massively different back then, all the guilds and their power, how women's behaviour was massively circumscribed particularly in the courts. I kinda expected some lyrical tributes to certain artists but this isn't Robert Hughes I guess and I certainly got to see a lot of interesting aspects to some of my favourite artist's work, like Donatello

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traditional histories of Italian art in the Renaissance, such as those by Vasari and Gombrich see a linear progression in technique and accomplishment from Giotto to Michelangelo. It’s a neat and satisfying way of understanding the period, but also open to some serious questioning. Welch does just that in an excellent account that examines the art through materials, relationships between artists and patrons, government, patronage, domestic and religious settings, rather than via the “genius” of individual artists. By all means read Vasari and Gombrich, they are superb, but then read Welch.

[Call Me Ishmael · Rating 4 out of 5]

ISBN-10: 019284279X


Well described. It will give an in-depth look at Renaissance Italy. For a person with a real interest…beyond being able to repeat the trivia/names… this is the book. Not a light read, and I wonder if someone without the basic names/timeline of Europe during mid-age to 1500’s (not just Italy) down would get much out of it.

[Ariel J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compare with those books that teach you how to appreciate a painting or a sculpture, this one is more about the external history, the working environment, the system, the materials they use and the relationship between an artist, a patron, the guild and the government in renaissance Italy.

[Noelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book for 15th century Italian t was well written with information on art, society, social and historical fact. Some chapters were slow but for the most part it was a quick and helpful read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read for research while at uni!

[Susan Wands]

Dense and beautiful, this book takes a look at the more well known classical art works of art.